


You Held Me Tight (Don't Let Me Go)

by AifasInTheSky



Series: (See You) On The Other Side [5]
Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half-Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware - Fandom
Genre: Black Mesa Sweet Voice, Dumbasses. Dumbasses everywhere., Fluff, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Misunderstandings, mentioned Bubby/Dr. Coomer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:40:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25485628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AifasInTheSky/pseuds/AifasInTheSky
Summary: The day started like any other. How was Gordon supposed to know?
Relationships: Benrey/Gordon Freeman
Series: (See You) On The Other Side [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1839427
Comments: 12
Kudos: 206





	You Held Me Tight (Don't Let Me Go)

The day starts like any other.

Gordon disentangles from Benrey’s arms and leaves the bed, trudging to the bathroom. He brushes his teeth, fixes his hair—brushes it, ties it up with his trusty orange hair band—and looks at himself in the mirror. He looks… well, as if he just woke up, but the sight is definitely better than what it was months ago.

Cheered up by that thought—that means he’s making progress, right?—he walks to the kitchen and starts preparing breakfast—for two, this time; Joshie is at his mom's house today. The routine is ingrained in his mind at this point—crack some eggs, pour some milk, mix it; add the flour and the salt, mix some more. At some point, without realizing, he starts whistling that song Tommy said his students were listening to all the time. It’s admittedly quite catchy.

He feels the weight of a head onto his shoulder, arms draping around his waist.

“Whassup, bro?”

Benrey’s voice is hoarse, like he spent the whole night snoring—which Gordon knows he usually does because of the times he’s found him sleeping in the couch those first days of his stay, when insomnia and nightmares still were an issue. These days, he sleeps soundly enough not to be bothered by it.

“Morning, man. The first ones will be ready in a few,” he says, pouring some mix into the pan.

“Sweet,” Benrey says, nestling his head in his neck. Gordon almost drops the pan, feeling that devilish smirk against his skin. 

“Back off, dude!” he definitely _doesn’t_ squeak. “I’m gonna burn this one!”

“What, can’t bear a little gay? Gordon Gayman?”

“Shut up,” he says, without bothering to hide the laughter in his voice. “Let me finish these.”

In the end, Benrey’s love for food wins, and he reluctantly drops his arms and leaves to the living room. Gordon keeps working on his food, hoping his cheeks aren’t as warm as they feel.

“Hey, bro,” Benrey’s voice calls from the kitchen. “Tommy uhh… just invited us to a bbq. With the Science Team bros. And Sunkist. Very cash money of him.”

“Oh,” he replies, flipping the third pancake. “That’s great! Tell him we’ll go…” He checks his phone. It’s eleven thirty. Fuck. “Tell him we’ll drop late, but that we’ll be there.”

“Already breaking rules.” Benrey tuts. “And it’s not even breakfast. Criminal.”

“What? What rules I’m even breaking?” Gordon asks.

“Etiquette rules. Everyone knows that, Gordon uhh… Jailman. You’re going to jail. Etiquette jail.”

“What,” he retorts, “haven’t you heard of arriving elegantly late?”

“… Huh?”

Gordon sighs. “Never mind.”

\-----

In the end, they arrive at two p.m., flushed and disheveled because it’s summer, it was hot in the car and they spent the whole trip fighting over the radio station.

Bubby raises an eyebrow when they get in.

“Hello, Gordon! Hello, Benrey!” says Dr. Coomer, smiling at them with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Gordon doesn’t know what they’re on about, but he doesn’t care for it one bit.

“Hello, Dr. Coomer,” he replies, nonetheless. So far, no one has said anything, so he’s not going to bite the bullet.

“’Sup, science man.”

“Benrey, we’re all scientists.”

“But you suck at it.”

“Hey?”

“You’re more like uhh… a nerd.” He says, waving his finger at him.

Bubby cackles.

“You—” Gordon starts, grabbing Benrey’s hand.

Just then, Tommy and Darnold enter the room.

“Hi, Mr. Freeman! We saved some burgers for… oh.”

“Oh, my,” Darnold says.

“’Oh?’ ‘Oh,’ what?” Gordon asks, feeling his temper rise.

“N-nothing!” says Tommy, giving a quick glance at Benrey, who looks… honestly, kind of confused right now.

“I didn’t know! I’m so happy for you!” Darnold says, and Gordon freezes.

“Wait, know what?” He says, squinting.

“Uhh…” Darnold looks nervous. Tommy elbows him, and he seems to get even more nervous. “Uhm… That…”

“We didn’t know you were together!” Tommy says. “I mean, we suspected it, but…”

Gordon feels himself go red. “What?!” He jumps away from Benrey.

Benrey himself has the most color he’s seen in his face. “Tommyyyy… Not cool, bro…”

“What? Don’t you dare be ashamed! It’s a… It’s a wonderful thing! We were wondering when… uhh… you were going to make it official.”

“Young love is beautiful!”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Gordon says, holding his hands up. “There is a misunderstanding here. Benrey and I aren’t together.”

The temperature of the room seems to go down a couple degrees, for some reason. Benrey tenses, looking at him, eyes wide.

“… We aren’t?” he says, voice uncharacteristically timid.

Oh, hell.

“Benrey, stop fucking around. Of course we aren’t.” Benrey flinches. “We’re on the same page, right?”

“I uhh… hate books, bro… Ahah… Ahahah…” Benrey’s awkward laugh makes his heart twist. “I… I gotta go to the bathroom… Real quick…” And with that, he rushes out of the room, brown blobs escaping his mouth and floating to the ceiling.

“Benrey, wait!” Gordon yells, but Benrey slams the door of the bathroom closed.

“’Brown like chocolate cake means my heart’s about to break.’ Mr. Freeman!”

The whole Science Team glare at him like he has committed an atrocious crime. He looks again at the orbs, feeling like, maybe, he did.

“I… I didn’t know?” he says lamely. “We—We never talked about it!”

“Gordon, everyone knows you have to be open with the person you get in a committed relationship with!” Bubby says, glancing at Dr. Coomer for a second. Wait—

“You two—”

“Don’t tell me you’re homophobic, Gordon.”

“No, of course not!” he hurries to make clear. “Not that it proves anything, but I’m, you know, bisexual.”

Bubby visibly relaxes, and the atmosphere changes a bit.

“Anyways, we never talked about starting dating! We just…” After Benrey’s return, they just had kept going as they’d been before. Well, maybe Benrey is more openly affectionate, but that’s just because he missed him; and maybe he is more prone to laughing now than to getting angry, but that’s because he’s so glad he’s back…

Oh, hell. Who is he kidding?

Go figures, he’s fucking in love with Benrey.

“Fuck,” he says, grabbing his hair.

“Fuck, indeed, Gordon,” says Bubby.

“I need to talk to him—” he says, and runs towards the bathroom, hearing the cheers from his friends.

“Slap that ass, Gordon!” Dr. Coomer actually shouts. Jesus. If he wasn’t blushing then, now he is.

“Benrey!” He knocks on the door. “Benrey, I need to…” he softly opens the door. “Ben…”

He almost can’t see in the bathroom due to the dark brown orbs floating around. Benrey is on the floor, covering his mouth with trembling hands.

Gordon feels like his own heart’s about to break, and he knows it’s not the orbs.

“Hey, dude.”

Benrey glares at him, eyes wet. Gordon stops dead on his feet, but he takes a deep breath and keeps moving forward, quietly closing the door.

Gordon crouches down. “You know, you gotta tell me what’s going on; I can’t guess. I’m not a fortune teller.”

Benrey uncovers his mouth, and a couple more brown orbs escape him. “You’re a dumb man. Gordon Dumbman. Can’t even tell… Can’t even know what’s going on.”

“And what is going on, Benrey?” he asks. Benrey’s eyes pierce at him, stubborn. “Alright.” Gordon sighs. “I’ll tell you something. But talk to me, alright?” He waits for confirmation, and after a beat, Benrey shrugs. Okay, confirmation enough. “Benrey, God knows why, but I want to date your stupid ass.”

Benrey’s eyes widen.

“Alright, that wasn’t the best confession,” he admits.

“Shut up,” Benrey says. Gordon’s heart freezes. “When I came back and I said my family’s there and you said ‘Welcome home’… And we hugged, bro, and we cried. We had a moment. And we were so cool together later, bro. Epic couple. Only you don’t care.” He coughs out a stubborn, smaller brown orb.

Gordon blinks. “Alright, first off: for two people to be dating, _both_ need to know that, you dumbass. Secondly: alright, I admit I was a bit… obtuse. But still, we should’ve _talked_ about it, not _assume_ anything.” He reaches out to rest his palm over Benrey’s hand on the floor. “Especially not about this.”

Benrey looks at him, eyes hopeful.

“That means… I finally get that kiss, bro?”

Gordon reddens. “What kiss? I mean, sure, but after we make something clear.” He clears his throat. “Are we dating?”

“Uhh… Duh, bro, of course we are.” Benrey intertwines their fingers. “Pretty slow on the uptake, Feetman.”

“Ugh, don’t call me that…” Gordon says with a wince. Benrey smirks, and grabs him by the collar of his shirt, dragging him forward for a kiss.

Gordon’s head crashes onto Benrey’s. “Ouch!” he complains, but soon Benrey chases his mouth and finds the right angle. Gordon can’t help but lean into it, feeling warm and fuzzy and everything in between.

Then, two things happen at the same time.

Benrey lets out a string of pink and blue orbs that explode into his throat and make him choke. And the door of the bathroom slams open, letting the rest of the Science Team plus Sunkist fall into a pile over the bathroom floor.

“What… What the fuck…?” Gordon says, coughing. He feels happy, and warm, and comforted, even after the sudden intrusion.

“Oh,” says Tommy, looking at the particles Gordon is spitting out. “’Pink… followed by blue… means I love you’!” Benrey glares at him. “S-sorry,” he mutters.

“It’s okay, Tommy,” he says, looking at Benrey with a glint in his eye. “I already knew.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when I'm insomniac: I release fic.
> 
> I hope you like this new installment! I think this is the last frenrey installment of the series, but we'll see. Also I can write more stuff outside of it, so... *shrugs* Next installment will most probably be Darnold-centric, so yay!
> 
> Thank you very much for reading! ♥
> 
> Edit: Forgot to mention! I'm taking fic requests on my Tumblr [[Link]](https://aifastic.tumblr.com/post/624322709792440320/fic-requests-open)


End file.
